1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to surgical stapling devices for applying surgical fasteners to body tissue. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical stapling devices suitable for performing circular anastomosis and/or treating the internal walls of hollow body organs, e.g., hemorrhoidal tissue.
2. Background of Related Art
Anastomosis is the surgical joining of separate hollow organ sections. Typically, an anastomosis procedure follows surgery in which a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed and the remaining end sections are to be joined. Depending on the desired anastomosis procedure, the end sections may be joined by either circular, end-to-end or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a circular anastomosis procedure, the two ends of the organ sections are joined by means of a stapling instrument which drives a circular array of staples through the end section of each organ section and simultaneously cores any tissue interior of the driven circular array of staples to free the tubular passage.
Examples of instruments for performing circular anastomosis of hollow organs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,303,106, 6,053,390, 5,588,579, 5,119,983, 5,005,749, 4,646,745, 4,576,167, and 4,473,077. Typically, these instruments include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end to actuate the instrument and a staple holding component disposed at a distal end. An anvil assembly including an anvil center rod with attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end of the instrument adjacent the staple holding component. Opposed end portions of tissue of the hollow organ(s) to be stapled are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component as these components are approximated. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving one or more staples from the staple holding component through the staple slots so that the ends of the staples pass through the tissue and are deformed by anvil pockets of the anvil head. An annular knife is concurrently advanced to core tissue with the hollow organ to free a tubular passage within the organ.
Besides anastomosis of hollow organs, surgical stapling devices for performing circular anastomosis have been used to treat internal hemorrhoids in the rectum. Hemorrhoids are masses of tissue in the anus containing enlarged blood vessels. Internal hemorrhoids are inside the anal canal; external hemorrhoids lie outside the anal canal. In hemorrhoidectomy, the hemorrhoids are removed. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy is a surgical procedure in which the stapling device is used to remove tissue just above the hemorrhoids in order to pull the hemorrhoids back up inside the rectum and reduce the symptoms. The staples interrupt the blood flow of the superior hemorrhoidal arterial branches, cutting off the blood supply to the tissue, thus causing the hemorrhoids to shrink.
During the use of a circular stapling device for hemorrhoid treatment, the anvil head and the staple holding component of the device are inserted through and into the rectum with the anvil head and the stapling holding component in an open or unapproximated position. Thereafter, a purse string suture is used to pull the internal hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue toward the anvil rod. Next, the anvil head and the staple holding component are approximated to clamp the hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The stapling device is fired to remove the hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue and staple the cut tissue.
Various techniques of using the purse string suture to pull the internal hemorrhoidal tissue towards the center rod are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,271 to Longo, et al., discusses grasping and pulling the purse string proximally through the use of a separate device that is inserted into the stapling device.
International Application Publication No. WO 2008/107918 to Rebuffat, et al., discloses placing the purse string suture into one or more annular grooves formed in the anvil center rod.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a surgical stapling device including structure that is configured and dimensioned to enhance alignment between the staple holding component and anvil head.
It certain procedures, it may be desirable to provide a longer center rod (anvil shaft) of the anvil assembly. Therefore, such enhanced alignment and cooperation between the stapling component and anvil would be advantageous.